Basketball's full-court feud

DALLAS (AP) — The feud between Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former coach Don Nelson stretches back nearly seven years and has some $7 million at stake. But just how ugly and dysfunctional their relationship has been is only now being revealed.

Previously secret testimony and e-mail, now in the public record as part of legal proceedings initiated in the past 10 months, paint the picture of a spat that has turned two of the NBA’s best-known figures into bitter adversaries.

There’s deposition testimony from Cuban in which he acknowledges that he withheld consulting fees from Nelson in 2006 because he believed the former coach had “badmouthed” the team during the NBA Finals and should be made to “beg” for the money. There’s also testimony from Nelson in which he describes being so disgusted with Cuban that he signed a contract to stay on as coach in 2003 only after friends “got me drunk.”

“I think everybody would like to see this settled amicably, but you know how it is in a lawsuit,” said former Mavericks assistant Del Harris, who frequently acted as an intermediary between Cuban and Nelson when he worked for the team.

The proceedings stem from a contract dispute over whether Nelson, now the coach of the Golden State Warriors, should be paid millions in salary he deferred while coaching the Mavericks from 1997 to 2005.

Nelson contends that he legitimately earned the money. But Cuban believes Nelson should get nothing because he breached a contract that made him a Mavericks consultant when he took the Golden State job in August 2006. Although an arbitrator ruled in Nelson’s favor, Cuban has refused to pay the money, now totaling more than $7 million.

Neither Cuban nor Nelson would comment when contacted by The Associated Press for this story.

The matter is one of several legal actions currently involving Cuban, the dot.com billionaire who has become famous for his outspoken ways, court-side antics and outbursts against NBA officials.

A federal judge last week dismissed an insider trading suit brought against Cuban by the Securities and Exchange Commission, though the agency can still amend its complaint. Another lawsuit filed last week by a company controlled by former Mavericks owner Ross Perot Jr. accuses Cuban of wrongfully diverting millions in profits derived from the Mavericks’ home arena, the American Airlines Center, to cover cash shortfalls incurred by the team.